Into the Storm
by Lolita Toxica
Summary: Like warm vapor rising up from the streets after a good storm, two Dojo couriers' questionable feelings for each other float onto the surface while stuck in the middle of a delivery.
1. Cloudy

It was a union between insecurities, solitude, desperation, naiveness, misunderstanding and confusion. The sum of a few negatives made a positive?

She considered this was Edʼs complete and utter fault to begin with. Why couldn't he be like his creator Olʼ Skool? Calm, thoughtful and careful. The teenager was his complete opposite: instinctive, uncontrolled, energetic, unpredictable, reckless… and the list goes on and on. He needed to learn cooperation and to value the team's organization and rules a bit more.

And who better to learn that from the most cooperative, involved and hardworking courier Dojo Deliveries had to offer?

Edʼs last few missions had been rocky, to say the least. From falling to his and Burn's potential death from a dangling scoreboard, almost getting eaten by an Omnirex, to potentially getting murdered by an AIʼs security system. Olʼ Skool thought that pairing him up with Fizz would open up a strategic and careful mentality. He wouldn't try to risk the life of an eleven-year old girl, would he?

When the Dojo came back with Winglow Labʼs datacube, he discovered Ed almost got her killed _a few_ times. The old man was certainly chaperoning the next artifact mission—where he almost got both of them destroyed more times than the blue-haired courier. So much for chaperoning.

But the old man saw a flicker of something. Maybe it was the way Fizz invaded his personal space, Ed stared at her half-lidded with a small genuine smile, the way they protected and took care of each other… It was as if they were in their own world.

Then _that_ event happened…

* * *

Burn once said that Fizz was a thousand years ahead of them all. There was simplicity to her ideals, this form of straightforwardness that came after questioning every dogma, virtue, moral and taboo available. There was a care to her carelessness. There was a thought to her instinct.

She had fallen fond of her temporary partner. She was sure it was her insecurities falling in love with the extra attention he gave her. She had decided to accept that fact instead of repressing her feelings towards Ed, but she also decided not to act on her desires since she knew heartbreak and awkwardness would ensue.

She was frustrated with her idea that Ed might not share her practical mannerisms in a relationship. With what she had seen with Deets, other than he was naive with his romantic feelings, he was very open to displaying that affection—in simple words, a flirt. Fizz was the opposite end of the spectrum: private and coy. She hid her feelings from the rest of the group because she—if given the chance—would prefer her relationship a secret.

The inventor didn't mind Ed having feelings towards Deets. She didn't have the desire to fight for his affection with one of her friends. As long as he cared and had feelings towards Fizz, that's all that mattered to her.

She was heavily invested in upgrading and tuning her infamous plasma cannon while those thoughts popped up in her head. She sat quietly drawing up a plan on a blueprint she found lying around. The redhead looked at the time in the monitor in front of her. Ed would usually visit her for a small chat by this time around.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a _ping_ from the computer. The weather predictions had changed from sunny to cloudy with a high percentage of a storm brewing. In other words, Dojo Deliveries was closing up early. She could focus more of her pet project now that she had an extra few hours up her sleeve.

The Dojoʼs warning gong blared around the hideout.

"Now?" She was bewildered that someone managed to ruin her break from work. She abandoned her blueprint and computer and sped off to the Team Room.

Olʼ Skool was running a hand through his beard while staring at the big monitor in the room. It showed a map of Progress City with a blue circle in the upper left corner and a purple circle in the middle right of the screen. He turned back when he heard the teenagers' footsteps. He lowered his sunglasses to see if his vision wasn't messing with him once again. "Where's the rest of the gang?"

Ed and Fizz were his only couriers available. They shrugged.

"There's a stolen datacube that's been jumping around from DNA to the Klowns to Robox, but it doesn't seem to get delivered. They've been jacking each other so much that they haven't had the chance to." Olʼ Skool typed on the keyboard. A security video footage popped up showing a fight between the Klowns and Robox. "I checked the net and this datacube belongs to the Samson Agriculture Corporation. It's an expansion plan for Sector 12, but DNA stole it this morning."

"What would Bedlam want to do with some carrots and corn anyway?" Ed asked. All he got for a reply was a held laugh and a light shove from Fizz and a glare from their boss.

"The more info he has on everybody, the better he can manipulate and control a sector. If Bedlam has control of Sector 12, he can control the food industry, therefore, rising food prices."

After an audible gasp, Fizz grabbed Ed by his arm and pulled him towards the vehicle lot. Nobody came between the redhead and her love for food.

While the pair left Olʼ Skoolʼs gaze, he took notice of their actions. He had been for a while. Fizz had never acknowledged anyone's personal space, including Edʼs; but there was something different about it. The way she was handling his arm with just enough pressure to demonstrate urgency. The way their legs intertwined while trying to move. How she kept stumbling on her words trying to explain her frustration to her partner. That smile on her face while looking up at the blue-eyed teen even though she was upset by the situation at hand.

Ed, on the other hand, was acting differently towards Fizz than usual. He had a serious vibe since he entered the Team Room. His arms were stiff as a board ever since she touched him. He was resisting being pulled away by the inventor. He was awfully quiet to her ramblings. The slight fear in his eyes looking down at her.

Something was going to go wrong.


	2. Thunder

The city was unusually dark for the afternoon. The storm seemed to be a big one with dark gray clouds with thunder claps here and there. The streets were abandoned by citizens and illuminated by light poles and a few buildings.

But the streets weren't abandoned by couriers.

Fizz was sitting on the edge of the hoverway, looking down upon the fight between Robox and Klowns. She was thinking about how much she regretted not focusing on creating new long-ranged weapons and was currently stuck using a hand-held rocket launcher. For the task at hand, it was a messy weapon. A sniper plasma rifle would've precisely hit and stun the package holder just enough for Ed to jack the package; then the rocket launcher to smoke out the area for a clean escape.

They were relying that the rocket launcher just confused the couriers enough for Ed to make a smooth exit.

" _I'm in position."_ The redhead looked down at her wrist communicator. She had also taken notice of her partner's demeanor that day. His tone of voice wasn't as happy as it used to be. He wasn't like that in the morning while they were getting briefed by Burn.

She shrugged it off. It was time to jack the package.

Fizz stood up and activated her rocket launcher. It deployed the front and back parts of the launcher. She slowed down her breathing to control her aim better as she looked into the viewfinder. The darkness created by the storm was making it a bit harder to visualize the street, but she only had one shot at it. "Can you see the package from your position?"

" _Rusty has it."_

She locked onto the intersection that Robox and Klowns were nearing into. "Ready?"

" _Just tell me when."_

Her finger was on the trigger. She calculated that it would take 1.25 seconds for the rocket to make contact with the street. Ed had just one second to grab the package and escape before everyone else was blinded by the smoke. The two courier groups were in her sight. "Go!" Fizz pulled the trigger.

The courier burst out of an alley way opposite of the fight. The lack of lighting made Ed blend in with the blue-tinted buildings and streets. He sped up to them and caught them off-guard. He jumped from his board, somersaulted into the Roboxʼs vehicle to grab the package, and jumped back to his board—which was being controlled by Torch. The rocket made contact with the street and exploded. He sped off just when the smoke blew up.

The thunder rolled. A huge gust of wind started blowing the smoke away.

"Uh… Fizz! I don't think the smoke is gonna confuse them for long!" Ed exclaimed as he looked back to the intersection. Robox had recovered quickly from the explosion.

"We need to hide!" She ran to her hover scooter and sped off in the higher hoverway. "Let's use the storm to our advantage! Let's hide in the lower sectors, they can cover us just enough to get them off our backs!"

"Can you meet me in Sector 10?"

"Be there in five!"

* * *

Ed would rather have stayed in the Dojo that day. It was a weird sentiment coming from the best drop jockey in Dojo Deliveries, but he had rather lay low in his bedroom for the rest of the day. He regretted taking that afternoon nap.

He didn't want to see Fizz.

His vision was so surreal. He was in an unknown place with his purple-clad partner just rambling around life. He didn't know why, but he felt warmness just being around her. The type of warmness he had felt the day he developed a crush on Deets. He didn't stop himself when he felt it; he just pushed it even further. He got closer to her. He touched her. He let her rest on him.

Ed didn't want to admit that for a long while he had started to see Fizz in a different light. She was his temporary partner. She wasn't interested in him, was she? She seemed overly invested into her work. She was an open book for some things, but a heavily-coded locked package for others. Maybe he would never know the truth… and he was fine with it. He can slowly break out of the spell he put himself in…

" _I'm close to you."_

But how could he when Fizz was the constant reminder of his repressed feelings?

He really had time to think it through while evading the other courier groups. Ed was still being followed by a smaller group of Klowns and Robox; but thanks to his partner, he was miles away from them. Speaking of the redheaded mechanic, she was entering the hoverway through the exit ramp.

"Scrap!" Ed turned to face her. "Dead end!" She pointed at the blocked hoverway they were driving into. They stopped right in front of the blockade. A light rain shower started pouring over the city.

"Torch," he called upon his hologram. The pink AI appeared from thin air. "Is there another way out?"

"There is," Torch and Fizz said in unison. Both the AI and his master looked surprised at the girl.

A holographic map appeared next to Torch to demonstrate a small map of the area. Right under the hoverway was another street with an exit ramp heading deeper into Progress City. "You guys just have to jump!"

"Yeah, into Sector Nine!" Oh… that's the reason she withheld that information. "The phantom sector." She emphasized. He remembered her tale with her teleporter. "Once we go in, we might not make it out…"

Ed looked at the street. The courier groups were getting closer. "If things make it out, so can we!" He sped off to the ledge of the street. Torch flew close to the blue-haired courier, leaving pink embers behind.

"Ed!" She punched her scooter's monitor in frustration. Why didn't he ever listen? She followed right behind him. Fizz couldn't just leave him behind to do something stupid.

They both jumped as the rain fell harder. The vehicles landed them safely to the other street and they continued onto the exit ramp to enter Sector Nine. The thunder roared loudly as they both looked to the street behind them. They weren't being followed anymore.

Ed sighed of relief. "See? Safe and sound!" The thunder clapped louder as the sky flashed in light. They closed their eyes momentarily to avoid being blinded by the lightning's flash.

"I'll celebrate once we find shelter." She checked her on-board computer for a roof over their heads, but her monitor was unresponsive. "I didn't punch it that hard, did I?" she whispered to herself.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked as he witnessed the worry in her eyes.

Fizz checked her watch and it was also unresponsive. "Nothing is working! I think my system is jammed."

Ed looked up at the sky. "Is it the storm?"

"Probably…" The tales were true: something always had to happen in Sector Nine.

"Hey, Torch!" The teenager called upon his AI, but to no response. "Torch?" Again, no response.

"DNA Deliveries, at your service!"

Both couriers paid attention to their driving once they heard that eerily happy voice. They turned the breaks in their vehicles and turned around. They were being chased by clones.

And in that moment, something went _wrong_.


	3. Wave

Olʼ Skool was standing in front of the stovetop. He had the Dojo all to himself. He had to enjoy the silence every chance he could get. He boiled some water for his afternoon tea.

He didn't mind the storm that was passing by. It made for the perfect ambient noise to relax after a stressful morning organizing the next day's scheduled deliveries.

The old man heard the garage door open. "Well, so much for silence." He poured the water into a ceramic mug and put a teabag inside of it.

"Hey, Skool." It was Burn.

He sighed of relief. At least the eldest teenager was well-mannered and quiet when not surrounded by his friends. "Welcome back!"

"Where's the rest of the guys?" Burn removed his wet gloves as he headed to the kitchen. He grabbed a paper towel to dry his helmet off.

"Still out. Check the monitor." Olʼ Skool offered him his tea out of politeness, but Burn shook his hand to refuse.

The courier left his helmet on the counter as he walked up to the monitor. While he could see his symbol in the Dojo, Deets and Loogie were still on the move. "Where's Fizz and Ed though?"

"I send them out." The old man joined Burn in front of the monitor. The teen was correct to assume the pair's whereabouts—they weren't in the map.

* * *

The day was getting worse by the minute.

They couldn't believe they broke the most important rule of driving: keep their eyes on the road. Their punishment: loss of contact with the Dojo, lightning bolt, and their descent into the depths of Sector Nine.

The phantom sector, as Fizz aptly called it, was the opposite version of every other sector before and after it. It was a dumping ground for trash and treasure alike. A robot's nightmare, but a mechanic's dream. Why would a man-made area be such a mystery to man and machine alike?

It was dark. The mounds of mechanical trash were navy blue silhouettes at that point. The ground was a muddy and slippery disaster. The rain coated everything in that sector in a cold veil of wetness. The air emphasized the cold even more with the frosty winds.

Ed felt pressure on his shoulders. "Please wake up…" He's never heard Fizz that afraid and choked up before. He slowly opened his eyes as he saw the redhead completely drenched in rain water and mud. Her face was red and puffy from crying.

"Fizz… are you okay?" He sat up, only to be knocked down by the girl.

"Are _you_ okay?" She hugged him tightly. She was trembling in fear of what had happened. They clearly shouldn't be alive after evading death so many times in one split second. "I should've plotted this route better! I'm so sorry, Ed!"

He hugged her as well. Poor thing was shaking like a leaf. "I'm okay. The suits inflated on time." He pulled her away from him, but still had a hold of her shoulders. "But are _you_ okay?"

"I think so…" She wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

"Cʼmon, let's get out of here. Hand me an m-grab." He stood up and lent his hand to her.

"I'm dry." She grabbed his hand and he helped her up.

"What?"

"I don't restock the vehicles until we close down for the night."

Ed looked at the street above. The rain wouldn't seize and the thunder claps were audibly more common than before. "And our rides?"

"I haven't checked them…" She nervously played with her fingers. "I was sort of worried about you." She turned to where her scooter was. It laid a bit ways away from them considering their inflated suits bounced them away from the landing area.

Fizz walked towards her vehicle while Ed started looking for his hoverboard. She kneeled down to her scooter to get a better look of the damages. The nose was flattened and was starting to rip apart on the right side. The brake gauge was one strip of aluminum away from detaching from the entire vehicle. She could tell by the damages what happened: it nosedived and tumbled around until it reached its last resting spot.

Quite fitting they were in the junkyard.

On the other hand, Edʼs board was the least damaged of the two. Maybe there was hope to escape Sector Nine. He tried to turn on the boosters, but failed. They were probably on the entire time he was knocked down.

Ed looked up at the street above them. Who was going to rescue them?

He got startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "My ride is dead. Is yours in any better condition?"

"It's dry, but it looks okay."

Fizz hummed for a bit. She had an idea, probably a stupid outdated idea, but she and Ed had done stupider things that have worked. "If I can find an aluminum rod and stick your board in a high place, maybe we can power your board with lightning."

He didn't know any better than to agree to her idea.

"Grab your board, let's look for shelter first." Fizz left his side.

He grabbed his hoverboard and followed the redhead. He took the time to look around since it was his first time inside Sector Nine. It was a real unusual place in comparison to the other sectors he had been to. The ground was composed of rocks, debris, mud and gravel. There were plenty of mounds and hills of mechanical components that he was sure were man-made. Most of them were perfectly formed to be climbable; probably for scavengers who want to search for free spare parts.

Because these hills were filled to the brim in metal, the lightning would usually strike one of them and illuminate the area. It scared Fizz, but Ed got used to it. She would grab his arm and hide her face on it each time it would strike. It was in one of these moments where she saw shelter.

"Whoa, Ed, look at that one!" the mechanic pointed out at one specific hill that had a dugout and a dip under it. They both ran towards it and looked down. "Hello? Is someone here?" Nobody responded. She grabbed his arm and slid on the mud unto the dugout under the hill.

It was a cave-like structure of hard rock with pieces of mechanical debris poking out in certain areas. Ed was perfectly capable to see all of it with his Optigogs. He saw that Fizz was struggling to walk. She had her arms in front of her wiggling around to not hit anything. "Are you okay?"

"I'm blind."

"Oh… right." He laid out his board on the ground and opened his side case. He picked up a flare. He walked a bit deeper into the cave to avoid injuring Fizz. He dug up a small hole to contain his flare. He pulled out the top, activating the green fire. He dropped the flare into the hole to the flare would act as a fire.

Fizz turned to the fire when the cave lit up. "Great idea." She smiled as she walked up to him. She removed her helmet and let it rest close to the entrance. "But it's gonna die out sooner or later." She looked around the cave searching for biological material to burn out to maintain the fire. She looked at her gloved hands. "I'll throw in my gloves when it starts dying out."

"You think that would work?"

"Don't think so. Carbon fiber is flame-resistant..." She turned to the teen next to her. "But let's hope there's something more than carbon fiber in these..."

"If it actually works, I'll throw mine too."

"Sure, that'll give us plenty of time to work our way out." She turned her back to him as she started looking for a metal rod for their escape plan.

Ed sat next to his board and stared at Fizz as she walked around. It was a half-lidded gaze—relaxed after everything that happened.


	4. Flood

The three eldest couriers stood in front of the monitor with their boss. Olʼ Skool worked with the turntable to retrace Ed and Fizz's signatures in the map. When the icons disappeared, he went back and forth with the disk to confirm his suspicions.

"They're in Sector Nine."

Burn took a step forward towards the monitor. "But how deep in Sector Nine? Maybe they're still running."

"I was hoping that would be the case, but they would've been back on the map."

"So they're _stuck_?" Burn pointed to the garage. "Then what're we waiting for? Let's go get them!"

Deets and Loogie nodded. The teenagers marched towards the garage until Olʼ Skool stopped them.

"I'm not risking anyone else until this storm is gone."

"We can't wait that long!" Deets exclaimed to the old man.

"I'm sure they're fine and they can hold out on their own." Olʼ Skool lowered his sunglasses to stare at the group. "If we go while the storm is still going, who knows if we end up in the same predicament as them!" He turned to the monitor. "Their signals disappeared just by entering Sector Nine and I'm not entirely sure if it's because of the storm or some interference set up in the sector." He turned to his crew. "Either way, it'll be good to prevent anyone else slipping away from the map."

* * *

Fizz proudly presented her aluminum rod to Ed. It was three old wire hangers twisted around to make a decent lightning rod. There were long strands of two hangers on the base to hold onto the board. "Thanks for the help, Ed!"

He had a few open holes in his gloves after helping Fizz twist the wire hangers around. He shook his hand a bit to waver away the slight sting he felt from touching the tips of the hangers for too long.

"Come on, let's try this out!" She sprinted towards their shelter's entrance and tried to get out, but the mud was too slippery and slid down. She turned to him. "Help me out!"

He trotted towards her and kneeled down. He pulled his arms down to boost the girl. She ran once again—this time towards Ed—and got higher in the air. She reached the outside when she felt the cold rain hit her red hair. The older courier threw his board and it landed next to her. "You can do it!" he told her. "I'll stay here and try to make going up and down here a bit easier."

Ed could see the fear in her eyes when she found out he wasn't going to follow her. He felt bad that he couldn't give her the physical support she needed, so he tried his best vocalizing his support.

"It's okay, Fizz! There hasn't been a flash for a while now, so you'll be fine!" He got closer to the entrance. "Hurry up before you catch a cold!" She slowly grabbed his board and attached her makeshift lightning rod to it. He could tell she didn't want to leave his side in this situation. "You got this, Fizz! I believe in you!"

"That makes one of us…"

"Look, after all we've been through this month, I'm pretty sure you can do anything and it'll work out in the end! You need to trust yourself a bit more; I trust you more than what you trust yourself! I'll be here waiting for you!"

Fizz took noticed that she had zoned out of reality when Ed started talking positively about her. He was fueling her feelings without realizing it. She scorned herself mentally for being so easily manipulated with his words and actions. She kept on falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole—depths she didn't realize existed until they managed to get into this predicament.

He also realized how deep he was getting himself into. The problem wasn't what he was saying, but what he wanted to do with her. He wanted to jump out and hug her tightly so she wouldn't tremble anymore. He wanted to run his hands on her wet hair to calm her down. He wanted to kiss her forehead to reinforce her that everything would be fine. He wanted to hold her tight so she wouldn't be afraid of thunder anymore. He wanted to stare at her eyes to see if she felt the same way he did…

Again, they were both in their own world while in the middle of a storm in Sector Nine. She forgot about the cold rain hitting her small body. She forgot the howling freezing breeze making her wet hair stick to her cheeks and forehead. He didn't notice his feet were slightly sinking into the mud while trying to give her all his support.

Fizz slowly moved out of his line of vision. Her face was tinted in red on how embarrassed she felt for thinking about her feelings towards Ed right in front of him. She examined the pile of rubble on top of their shelter to find the best area to climb with the hoverboard. She decided that if a lightning bolt were to fall down on their specific mountain of junk, it would electrocute her makeshift lightning rod anyway because it wasn't connected to the ground. She threw it as hard as her body could to a somewhat decent height and hoped for the best.

She sprinted back to their dugout only to find Ed was making some stairs out of old car doors and robotic arms. He stuck the materials to the mud and stood on top of them to confirm their stability. He didn't notice Fizz looking down at him from the outside of their shelter. She was in awe of his resourcefulness. Maybe Ed was either smarter than what he showed or his innate abilities as part alien technology kicked in.

"Fizz, why are you staring at me like that?"

His voice broke her out of her trance. Her cheeks were once again tinted in embarrassment as she stared at his big blue eyes. Her involuntarily high pitched "Huh?" surprised even her. "I-I… was… admiring your great idea?" she spoke slowly at first before ending the sentence with so much confusion to what she had said. She smiled nervously at the end.

This was going to be a _long_ mission.


	5. Vapor

The flare was giving up on them. Fizz had thrown her purple and yellow gloves to the fire, but as she had suspected, Olʼ Skool didn't skimp out on their courier outfits. It was made out of pure carbon fiber rayon, a stretchy thick fiber that was very resistant against ambient and physical adversities.

Ed turned to the girl. "So… what're we gonna do?" He gestured to the small fire.

"I can't move anywhere until my eyes adapt to the darkness, so I guess I'm just sitting here for a while. The cold, however, is another issue."

He groaned. "I told you not to stay in the rain for too long!"

"Sorry for having a rational fear to potentially lethal celestial electrical currents that, merged with our current situation, could not let you accompany me to place your hoverboard on this trash heap, Edward!" She glared at him, her hands balled in fists on her sides.

He put both hands in the air. "Sorry!" He put his hands back down. "How do we get you warm?"

Fizz turned her face away from him. Once again, her face heated up to the obvious idea. Was this boy really that dense? She groaned to herself and curled herself just enough to rest her elbows on her legs and put her hands on her currently blushing face. She guessed this was the closest she would get to some heat for the night and hoped that she wouldn't die of hypothermia in the most dreaded place in Progress City.

"Oh no! Ah, don't cry, Fizz!"

The redhead looked at the teen from the corner of her green eye. She wasn't tearing up at all. Maybe the change of seating mixed with their argument mentally fueled something in Ed.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything bad! I'm just worried about you… We're in danger, you might get a cold, we don't have any food and pretty much no way to contact the guys. Oh scrap, the guys are gonna _kill me_ if something ever happens to you!"

The next thing she knew, she was getting hugged by the blue-cladded courier. She completely stiffened in his arms. Slowly but surely, she found out that the side of her body that was touching his chest was warm in comparison to his limbs. Fizz meekly melted in his arms, her head leaning against his chest.

They ended up lying on the floor with each other in their arms. At least the mechanic didn't have to spell it out to him what they had to do. She reasoned the extreme warmness of his chest was due to how he was built. Logically, a heart or an engine would hide perfectly inside a torso. She didn't put much more emphasis to it since she was dealing with her own problems: her frantically beating heart.

On his end, Ed was just realizing that his dream was slowly coming true. There was a sense of dread on his shoulders, but his chest had never felt so light! He put his face on top of her red hair. It was smooth, soft and smelled like strawberry, banana with a hint of that rain… ion? He remembered Fizz once mentioning it.

"Your hair smells like a smoothie." His hand slid from her back to her waist. He felt her freeze under his touch as he pushed her a bit closer to him. The smell was very comforting to him. It reminded him that they did have a home to return to after all this ordeal.

She snorted by his response. "What did you expect it to smell like other than shampoo?" Her voice was muffled by their closeness. She shivered when she felt him rubbing his thumb against her waist. He seemed to be enjoying their time together rather than taking this as a survival instinct. At least he couldn't see her face anymore since it was buried in his chest. She tried to calm herself.

"I like this…" he murmured to himself as he closed his eyes.

"Me too…" she breathed. "You're hot."

"I know I am," he chuckled lightly; a bit glad she couldn't see his face.

She froze. She didn't mean to say that out loud. It was an observant thought and it sounded as if she was flirting. There was something happening in her brain. She was okay with Ed taking care of her, noticing her, being friendly with her and now… she was getting greedy. She liked the attention. She adored his touch. Her romantic feelings masked in a coy façade slowly fading away.

He became addictive…

The flare died.

* * *

It was passed their curfew, but they knew Olʼ Skool didn't mind after their current predicament. The elder teens sat outside of their balcony watching and waiting for the storm to subside. The thunder rolled in less frequent than before, so it was a good sign.

Loogie and Burn tried to have a decent conversation, but it was difficult without Deets interjecting. She seemed worried. Her hands under her chin in dreadful thought. Her body seemed so bunched up together and small in comparison to her high stature. Her lime green eyes were staring at the table absentmindedly. The boys stared at the silent teen. Loogie nudged his leader.

"You seem off tonight." Burn told the pink-haired teen.

"Not really."

He and Loogie gave a teasing smirk at each other. Both boys didn't really see eye to eye unless it was to tease the eldest girl. "Good, I guess you won't mind us _gossiping_." The leader shrugged.

She slowly peered up at him while he sported an all-knowing smug look on his face.

Oh. Oh no…

"Ooh, where should we start?" Dr. Pinch jumped out of the table. His little puppet hands in the air in excitement to what was happening.

"Fizz and Ed, obviously." Loogie laughed while Deets visibly cringed at the mentioning of their names together.

"I told you she had a thing for him." Burn chuckled lightly. "Last time I came down into the workshop, she thought it was Ed coming to visit her _again_." He rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement. "I just wanted to check up if she had fixed my ride."

"Aw, were you trying to get her hopes up or something?"

"I wasn't." He raised his hands to dismiss fault. "The balance of my bike was whack last week." Burn took a quick glance at Deets, who was quietly interested in their conversation. She turned her head once her eyes met his. "But I'm pretty sure Edʼs board has been _perfectly fine_ all this time."

"Olʼ Skool has been putting them in all of these pick-ups together recently. Do you think he knows?"

A low groan was heard. The boys ignored it and continued on. They were touching nerves and pushing buttons that currently have no consequences to them.

"Pretty sure he did it on purpose," Burn teased. "Hey Deets, you have an obvious thing for him; how do you feel about Fizz and Ed?"

When he turned to face his second-in-command, she was gone from the table.

* * *

"I was wondering… what's your name?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him since her eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness surrounding them in their dugout. They had been comfortably silent in a hazy resting state for a bit more than an hour. Their arms tangled around each other to warm the redheaded mechanic. One of Edʼs hands never left his circular rubbing motion on her waist, which she was going to miss terribly whenever the ordeal was over. "Did you hit your head on the way down? It's Fizz."

"Not that name, your _other_ name!" He noticed she eyed him strangely. She noticed he stopped rubbing her waist. "Your real name. Deets told me couriers use fake names to protect themselves. I mean, you _do_ have a fake name, right?"

"Oh…" She sighed as she sat up with her legs crossed. "Why do you want to know _that_?" Her voice was a bit defensive. She wasn't particularly fond of her name because it was a reminder of her past.

Ed sat up as well. "Why not?" He was very matter-of-factly as he shrugged. He couldn't see what was wrong with that, but he remembered that she was closed-off to some information about herself. Maybe that was one of the things she didn't want to speak to anyone.

Fizz was silent for a while. Maybe… she was holding onto the past so negatively that even her name was such a big deal. Whatever Bedlam did to her should not be affecting her identity so harshly. She couldn't believe it took her such a simple innocent question from him to make her understand that.

Maybe it was time to open up.

"It's Frances."

There was another pause between them.

"It's a… pretty name." Fizz looked up to an apprehensive Ed. She could tell by his eyes that his mind was slowly working how to address her response. She was sure the blue-eyed courier wasn't expecting a clear answer from her. "A-And it fits you!" He got close to her by leaning his body in front of her and holding his body with his arms. His face was a few inches close to hers. "You are pretty, so you must look like a Frances!"

His words didn't make sense; but for her, they meant everything.

"Shut up, Edward!" Her voice was harsh, but he could tell she didn't mean it. She was smiling softly.

He cackled and smiled. "Well, I like it!"

"And I like you!"

There was a giant pause between them. Ed just realized what she said. Fizz just realized what had come out of her mouth.

Before she had a time to react, before she could make an excuse using Edʼs naiveness to her advantage, before she could stand up and run into the storm and avoid any further embarrassment and fracture to their friendship…

Ed was extremely fast—lightning fast, she would joke.

He kissed her.


	6. Pressure

The cold rain was currently pouring over Sector Nine. The area was dimly lit in blue from the above sectors street lighting system. It was calmer than a few hours ago where lightning, thunder and wind ruled over the phantom sector. Edʼs hoverboard with Fizz's makeshift lightning rod was still stuck above the mountain of junk that hid their dugout shelter.

A blast of light struck said hoverboard.

Back inside their hole, Fizz was just getting out of the primordial shock she was in and melting into his lips. She didn't really know what to do with herself at that point. She was sitting cross-legged and he was leaning towards her in all fours. They couldn't really hold or touch each other without him falling down.

Their shelter shook for a quick two seconds. A few metallic clinks were heard.

Ed broke off the kiss as he looked up. "Did you feel that?"

She looked to their shelter's entrance. A bit of smoke was fogging up the opening. "That was probably your board…" Her tone didn't sound as excited as he would've hoped. Both stared at each other.

"I don't think—"

"Me neither."

"So did we just—"

"We blew up your ride."

"Then how are gonna get back home?" He felt her arms wrapping around his shoulders. She pushed him to sit down and she sat on his lap.

"It's not as if we have anything better to do." She continued to kiss him.

She knew Ed was into it; he wasn't letting her go anytime soon.

* * *

Olʼ Skool was extremely focused on his laptop. A mug of already-cold tea sat right next to him as he urgently typed a code. He was verifying security cameras from Ed and Fizz's last route.

He heard a few steps right behind him. After spending so much time with them, he knew whose footsteps those were. "How are you doing, Deets?"

He could tell by the silence between them that she was surprised. "Could be better…"

"What's on your mind?"

"Ed… and Fizz." She reclined to the door's frame and crossed her arm.

He lightly chucked. "I'm sure those two are fine. They have each other's back."

Deets was slightly alarmed by his statement. "So you can tell?"

"I hoped this were the case. I wanted Ed to understand that his actions have consequences. Pairing him with Fizz made him realize he has to take care of his crew. I'm sure those two are working together as we speak."

The old man wasn't talking about the same issue she thought about. She hummed to agree with Olʼ Skool and started to leave his office.

" _But_ if what you feel is a little bit of jealousy, I wouldn't bother with it for now. You all are so young right now, I promise you everything is not as serious as you might want to think. Everything will work itself out in its own time."

Oh. He clearly understood why she was there.

 _Beep-beep-beep…_

They paid attention to the new window that opened on the monitor. It was a camera feed from Sector 10: a brooding cloud of smoke was slowly rising between the aerial streets.

"I think I found them!" Olʼ Skool pulled another video into the monitor. It was Ed jacking the package before Fizz's rocket impacted the street, creating smoke that blinded the camera. "They're leaving us a trail."

* * *

Fizz couldn't deny the certain dread that was flurrying in her mind. She didn't know who this girl was, but clearly it wasn't her. She got a taste of reciprocated feelings and she _knew_ it wasn't going to last for long. She was hours away from the giant tidal wave of disappointment whenever Ed returns back to the Dojo and gets ahold of the mess at hand. It was at that moment in time and she was feeling guilty for even slipping that confession out.

"So… you liked me all this time?"

She turned her attention back to him. It wasn't that hard since her head laid on his lap. "Define "all this time"."

"Since we met."

"Oh no, took a bit more than that." She raised her head to look at him. "But you on the other hand…"

"What?"

"You like Deets."

He looked away as he blushed. "What makes you say that?"

She raised her eyebrow, but Ed didn't notice since he was avoiding her green-eyed stare. She sighed. "I can tell… Don't need to hide it…"

"I… I sort of have a problem."

"Only you?"

"Yeah, well…" He looked at her as her face was clearly unimpressed by his answer. "You wanna talk about it?"

"We both have issues."

"I guess we do."

"Look, I like you. I really do, but I know this…" She gestured herself and Ed. "Isn't going anywhere after this."

Ed jerked up. "What do you mean?"

"You like Deets." She sighed. "This is just a "in the heat of the moment" type of deal, isn't it? Something secretly stupid we did once again on a run. Something we took too far this time around. After this is done and over with, Olʼ Skool is definitely separating us for a good while. You can go and hang with Deets. We'll never speak about this again and eventually go on our own separate ways—"

He leaned down and kissed her forcefully.

She shoved him away. "Don't do this to me! Stop lying to yourself!"

"Stop lying to _yourself_ , Frances." He pushed her down back onto his lap. She was shaken by the fact that he scolded her using her real name. "My issue is that I like _both_ of you! Yes, I like Deets, but I can't deny that I have feelings for you too! You can tell, can't you?"

She hummed.

"Every day I check up on you in the workshop because I _care_ deeply about you! You have never been a bother to me since we got paired up! Everything that goes down ends up being my fault and you keep saving my butt every time I mess up. I like listening to you ramble about your inventions. I like listening stories about your family!"

"Wow…" she breathed. "You actually listen to all of that?"

"I do and I _like_ it!" He sighed. "You're comfortable to be around with, you know? I can come to you and I know what to expect."

"But still…" She paused. "What's going to happen back at the Dojo? Is it going to be awkward now each time we see each other? Are we together? What are we?"

She gestured between herself and Ed again. "Because as much as I like you, I also don't like trouble… especially if Deets is involved."

"What trouble?"

"You and your body language are very telling. Everyone can tell you like Deets." Before Ed could interrupt, Fizz raised both her hands in defiance. "Every. One."

"But you couldn't tell I liked you though."

There was a pause between them.

Scrap, he was right.

He had a stupid little grin on his face that she literally wanted to wipe clean. "I think I can handle myself while we work on whatever this…" He gestured to themselves as Fizz had done. "…is."


	7. Cyclone

"I still think it was a stupid idea."

"But you went along with it."

"It was amusing, can't lie. Wanted to see how it ended; and hey, I saved you before anything got worse." Fizz shrugged.

They were watching the darkness of Sector Nine fade away from their shelter. The ambient was changing from dark blues and blacks to its mustard yellow and green lighting. The rain had finally subsided, only leaving cold crisp morning air to muse around the city.

The redhead held unto her stomach in pain. Hunger had been striking her ever since they woke up from a small nap. They really hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.

"Do you think there's a part of Sector Nine that's level with the street? We can walk there, get out and call a cab!" Ed said enthusiastically, a bit of the hunger delirium and tiredness peeking through.

"With what device? We haven't been able to communicate with anyone since we got here!"

The blue-eyed teen sighed and laid his head on top of Fizz in defeat. "We're gonna _die_ here!"

She kept on looking at the ambient outside their dugout for any indication of a precise time. "I'm pretty sure the guys are looking for us. Give them time. It's not as if the weather was perfect for a rescue."

He dramatically draped one arm over her shoulder. "I miss the Dojo. I miss chilling out in the couch watching games…"

"Ed, I'm sure it's been less than twelve hours since we got here."

He grabbed her by her arm and pulled her close to him. "We can't play _Lasergeddon_ anymore!"

"'Weʼ is a lot of people."

"I can hear the guys screaming our names. Oh, they're so _mad_ at us!"

Fizz was about to retort once again, but there was some truth to his dramatic flair.

Distant voices were coming closer and closer towards them.

They put their helmets and gear back onto their uniforms. They climbed up their shelter with Edʼs makeshift stairs and sprinted towards the street. From a distance, they could see colorful moving dots that were indeed shouting their names. They hollered back only to get hollered back as a reply. The dots ran towards them, slowly revealing to them that it wasn't a hallucination—the Dojo had arrived.

"I'm glad you two are alright!" Olʼ Skool shouted to them from the street above them.

"You two look like a _mess_!" Burn commented as he was glad the ordeal was over.

"You'd wish you'd look like us after all we've been through!" Ed joked back.

While they joked back and forth, Deets slowly descended to Ed and Fizz's level. She turned to the redhead first since Ed was still busy. "Are you guys alright?"

"Just hungry and dirty. The suits saved us from the fall."

"And your rides?"

"Destroyed during the fall. Edʼs exploded though."

"Come on; let's get you both out of here."

While Fizz was taken up first to the street by Deets, she played their short conversation in her mind. It was… different. It wasn't two friends worried about each other. No hugs, no emotional outbursts, no extreme worrying. It was just two co-workers. Did something happen with their friendship that she wasn't aware of? Did she do something to offend Deets before this entire incident happened?

Wait… did Deets find out?

She slowly turned towards Burn and Loogie, who were in the back of the company's hovertruck prepping the first aid kits. Their leader was the first to speak. "So did you enjoy your date with Ed?" He chuckled.

"You told her something, didn't you?" she accused him. "She's dry towards me now."

He crossed his arms. "It wasn't your best kept secret, Fizz."

"Everyone knows," Burn and Loogie said in unison.

She and the guys walked towards the edge of the street to watch Deets more lively towards Ed. She hugged him tightly and chatted away.

There it was. The tidal wave of disappointment. It was back to reality.

Fizz sighed and walked back towards the truck. The other two took notice and followed behind. They could see it in her face: the half-lidded green stare to the ground, the low-arched brows, the small breaths through her mouth, and her flushed cheeks. She went inside of the back of the truck and sat on one of the benches. She covered her face with her hands in hopes of calming herself.

Burn and Loogie looked at each other, then back to their friend. As the eldest teens of the group, they felt they had the responsibility to help the redhead out; but knowing how she reacts especially if she's convinced with a certain idea in her head, they really had no clue what to say. They turned to each other and after a quick match of _Rock-Paper-Scissors_ , Burn was the first to enter the truck.

He reached out to a white towel on top of one of the first aid kits they had prepared. He took off her purple helmet and while she looked up to see what was happening, her leader plopped the towel on her head. "Sorry… I know it's hard."

She rubbed her face with the soft towel to remove some of the mud and dirt. "Chillax… I knew this was gonna happen eventually," she mumbled.

"Even if you knew, it still doesn't dullen the pain." They turned to the outside. It was Olʼ Skool. "You shouldn't hide away from it; you should feel every emotion… even if it hurts. Makes you more human, more emphatic."

"Isn't this something you should be saying to Ed?" She raised a brow.

"This wasn't just a one-sided lesson for Ed. It was to help you as well!" He went into the truck and sat beside the redhead. "You see, Fizz, ever since I met you, you've been such a passionate girl; so much so that you really have two emotions: excited or angry. When I realized you had feelings for Ed, I also found out you were just more private to share your emotions with other people."

"Emotions are such a hassle, Olʼ Skool. I can deal with them on my own."

"Like right now?"

There was a huge pause between them. Scrap, she was proven wrong again.

"Look, I'm not here to intervene and tell you what to do, but I can advise you that we _all_ care about you and your feelings. You don't have to deal with them alone."

She sighed heavily. Great, she was getting a life lesson out of the blue by her boss.

Before she could even answer, the old man walked away. She could hear he was chatting with Ed and Deets, who probably had arrived back into the street.

"So, _dear friends_ ," she turned to Burn and Loogie. "What advice can you give me to deal with heartbreak?" Fizz's voice was dripping in sarcasm.


	8. Eye

The situation was very uncomfortable, to say the least. Ed, Deets, Loogie and Fizz all sat in the back of the truck. Burn had called shotgun and sprinted towards the passenger seat to avoid any awkwardness and conflict. Though Loogie knew he was going to ask him later in the day what had happened in the back. It was very silent, each person trying to analyze what to say to destroy the long pause between them.

Deets was very confused about the ordeal. She had spoken to Ed and it seemed by his end that it was a normal accident on the job. He spoke highly of Fizz and the things she thought off to get them safe and sound. Ed hadn't clumsily said anything weird the redheaded engineer would've said or done towards him. There were no adoring adjectives to describe her, no minced words to hide romantic feelings; they were really just two friends in a sticky situation. Didn't Fizz take advantage of her situation? The pink-haired teen felt guilty for feeling so jealous towards the two, especially being so bitter towards the young girl.

Ed felt so nervous talking to Deets. She had been asking about everything that had happened. He had to learn very quickly to watch his words to not lead her to believe that he and Fizz had reciprocated feelings towards each other. He tried his best, but he simply couldn't talk about their adventure without speaking highly of Fizz's quick thinking. He, of course, omitted the time when they cuddled to warm the girl up and the amount of kisses stolen to remind each other that it wasn't some dream. He took notice that Fizz was in a completely different mood when she boarded the hovertruck.

Loogie was having an internal battle with Dr. Pinch to find out a great icebreaker without escalating the situation. He knew right away he wasn't the perfect guy for this job—Burn was. The eldest teen dealt with his fair share of heartbreaks. Loogieʼs knowledge of romance was non-existent. His friend was feeling low and he couldn't chime in to cheer her up. He had to, for her sake, break the silence and dissolve this once and for all.

Fizz was feeling slightly better after Burn and Olʼ Skoolʼs advices. Maybe she did jump the gun too soon and assumed the worst. Maybe she did feel a bit of jealousy when she saw Ed and Deets together. She had to learn that she did all she could to demonstrate her feelings for the blue-eyed courier and it was all up to him what he wanted to do with that information. She couldn't push him towards her or convince him of staying with her. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be _his_ pure untainted decision.

The four couriers sat quietly in the back of the company's hovertruck waiting for some form of an icebreaker to confirm that everything was still the same as it has always been.

Dr. Pinch jumped up. He was clearly annoyed at the teenage angst that was happening in front of him. He wanted an answer to the real elephant in the room. The reason this had even happened. "Where's the package?"

Everyone looked up at the catfish puppet in confusion.

"Don't look at me like that! Ed and Fizz were jacking a package!"

Loogie and Deets turned to the duo.

It hadn't registered to the young couriers why they were stuck in Sector Nine in the first place. They were so involved in surviving and expressing their mutual feelings that they had forgotten the reason they even left the Dojo. Ed pulled a datacube from his pocket.

"The expansion plan datacube!" Fizz realized. "We were trying to hide in Sector Nine when we were attacked by DNA. Wasn't this going to Sector 12?"

"Well, you guys can't finish the delivery!" Loogie exclaimed. He relaxed onto his seat next to Fizz since the ice had officially been broken. "Who's the poor sap that has to deliver that now? What sucker is gonna go to Sector 12 to get beaten up by every drop jockey imaginable? Who's stupid enough to go there?" He glanced at Deets. "You can go."

"Excuse me?" Her voice went into a higher pitch as she squinted at the older teen.

"Nobody can reach you in the air."

"Klowns _shoot_ each other in the _air_ with _cannons_."

"Sucks to be you." He smiled.

"Who told you that you were in charge?"

"Age."

"Okay, first of all—" Deets started counting all the reasons Loogie was wrong. He was smiling all throughout her rant because there was some form of normalcy back. He could see Ed and Fizz were a bit more relaxed; they were ready to jump into the conversation. "Why are you smiling? You're definitely going out there!"

"Says who?" He stuck out his tongue.

"Second-in-command falls with the ship!" Dr. Pinch interjected.

"The saying is: "The captain falls with the ship." Technically, Burn." Fizz shrugged.

"Why don't you all go? It'll be a lot easier than what we had to deal with," Ed suggested as he relaxed into his seat.

"Loogie and Burn can distract the horde while Deets flies with the package. It's pretty much the only way to deal with them with half of the team out for the day," the redhead stated. "I highly doubt there's gonna be _that_ many crews. It was storming like crazy yesterday."

"The datacube became a triple cred drop after you two disappeared with it," Deets explained.

There was a pause between them. The pair jumped in anxiousness to the news. No, there was no way they were getting in the way of a hot package! Ed gave the datacube to Deets while Fizz pushed Loogie out of his seat.

"What are you two waiting for?" the girl said as she pushed her older friend. "We're in danger with this in the truck! Go!"

"I'm not dealing with these guys again! I just wanna go home!" Ed exclaimed.

It clicked to Deets. Her confusion in the beginning of the ride back home was cleared up. They've been dead tired all this time! Of course nothing had happened; those two were hungry, cold and tired. They were surviving, not having a blast being alone without the rest of the Dojo to intervene. She felt foolish to even assume Fizz had taken advantage of their predicament. Olʼ Skool was right: it wasn't as serious as she thought. Then again, maybe she should also take that advice for herself and not take Edʼs interactions so seriously. Maybe she should cool down her feelings for the boy as it seemed to be making her a bit paranoid.

She decided—without neither Loogie nor Burnʼs consent—that she, their captain and Loogie should finish the drop the pair had started.

* * *

After a nice breakfast and a hot shower, Ed and Fizz took to their rooms to sleep off the exhaustion. The redheaded mechanic couldn't sleep as deeply as she normally would because of all the thoughts of their ordeal passing through her mind. She decided she would try knocking herself out by working on her plasma cannon—she needed to investigate a better alloy for the shell.

She slipped down from her bed. The hair was still humid from her bath. She was wearing a very baggy white shirt with some green shorts nobody could see. She put on some lavender furry slippers and tiredly walked to her workshop. She closed the door behind her to avoid seeing anyone. She wasn't in the mindset to talk to any of her friends.

She sat down on her stool and turned her attention to her monitor. Everything was left intact. The blueprint with white pencil on the desk, the weather app still active on her computer, her hidden tabs from her internet browser; nothing was touched since she left. She took to the internet to search for lightweight sturdy alloys for her plasma cannon.

The door slid opened and closed quickly. Fizz turned to it to see Ed pressed up against the wall next to the entrance. He was a bit frazzled when he saw the redhead just staring at him. He had a matching set of blue pajamas and was barefoot. "H-Hey, Fizz!" He waved.

"What're you doing here?"

"Better question is: what are _you_ doing here?" He walked up to the girl.

She glared at the boy. "Really?"

He managed out a chuckle and relaxed. "Couldn't sleep, so I came to visit you."

"How'd you know I was here?"

"Torch." He shrugged.

She turned to her monitor and continued on with her investigation. "So are you feeling better?"

He hugged Fizz from behind, his arms around her shoulders to not get in the way of her work. His head was on top of her moist hair. Her face was flushed and her fingers were twitching on top of her keyboard. "Much better."

"Ed…" she warned.

"Nobody is here, chillax." He stared at her monitor. The brightness of the computer was reflecting on both their faces. "I noticed you looked bothered back there. Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" She caught herself in the lie. Olʼ Skool was right: she always bottled her other emotions from the crew. "Actually no, I wasn't fine back there." She sighed and stopped typing. She tried to look up at Ed as best as she could. She grabbed onto his arms. "I… got jealous of you and Deets together again."

"F-Fizz…" Ed was surprised she confessed to something like that. "Nothing happened, I swear!"

"I know that! It was just… Ed, she knows. She was just as jealous of you and me."

"I didn't tell her any—"

"Everyone knows."

"You need to invent something that'll make everyone not notice a crush."

She hummed. "It's really not that easy." She made her stool turn to Ed. His arms were still draped on her shoulders, but she was able to talk to him face-to-face. "I understand Deets a bit better now after everything that happened. It's nice to feel loved. It's nice that the person you care about feels the same way; but at the same time, it's an addiction and you want more and more."

He thought about her words. "Yeah, I guess this is why I started visiting you in your workshop."

"I've become greedy. Unhealthy greed. I want more of your attention, but you also like Deets. I can't be asking you to be on top of me always when you're still trying to understand yourself and your feelings."

"I don't like where this is going…"

"Oh no, I'm not… uh… breaking up with you… if that makes any sense." He sighed of relief. "I just don't want to convince you to be with me; I want you to make that choice whole-heartedly. I don't want to be in this jealousy battle with Deets when she's one of my close friends. So what I'm trying to say is… let's play it by ear."

Their faces moved forward and they kissed. It was short and to the point. It was an agreement—to seal the deal. Ed hugged Fizz tightly afterwards. "So Frances, whatever happens, happens?"

"Sure, Edward, sure."


End file.
